Abel Boyer was a French Huguenot, born in southern France and moved to England in 1689. He acted as French tutor to the young Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne, for whom he wrote The Complete French Master (published 1694). His later work, The Royal Dictionary (first published in 1699), also ostensibly for the young Duke, was this French-English, English-French dictionary that far surpassed all previous works of the sort, and continued as the basis of subsequent dictionaries for many years.